The Whole Veterinarian

Become Your Own Leader in Veterinary Medicine with Dr. Julie Settlage

August 12, 2021 Julie Settlage, DVM, MS, DACVS Season 3 Episode 35
The Whole Veterinarian
Become Your Own Leader in Veterinary Medicine with Dr. Julie Settlage
Show Notes Transcript

Work hard. Take risks. Try new things. Push yourself. Become Your Own Leader.

Just a few of the tangible lessons you'll hear in this episode.

Meet Dr. Julie Settlage!

Julie Settlage joined Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health as an Equine Professional Services Veterinarian in May 2020.  She is a board certified large animal surgeon and has a masters in veterinary education.  Until joining Boehringer, her career focused on serving her alma mater, Virginia Tech, through clinical service, teaching, leadership positions, and research collaboration.  Utilizing her strengths in teaching and collaboration, Julie enjoys providing practice-centered education in her new role at BIAH.
While she has lots of letters behind her name indicating that she is a bit of a nerd, she is actually just a normal human mom.  She is passionate about her family, her profession, and, newly, her Peloton.
Contact: julie.settlage@boehringer-ingelheim.com
...
Things we discuss...

Veterinary Leadership Institute

...
Ways to connect with The Whole Veterinarian!
Instagram: @thewholeveterinarian
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholeveterinarian/
Email: thewholeveterinarian@gmail.com
www.thewholeveterinarian.com
SIGN UP for the The Whole Veterinarian Newsletter HERE!

Support the show

Connect with Stacey or find more from The Whole Veterinarian!
www.thewholeveterinarian.com
If you want to have a small part in supporting the production of the show, click here to Buy Me A Coffee!

IG @thewholeveterinarian
Listen on your favorite podcast player here
Thank you for your time and support!

Stacey Cordivano:

Hey there, it's Dr. Stacey Cordivano. I want veterinarians to learn to be happier, healthier, wealthier and more grateful for the life that we've created. On this podcast I will speak with outside of the box thinkers to hear new ideas on ways to improve our day to day life. Welcome to the whole veterinarian. Hey there, I'm continuing the August celebration of amazing moms in veterinary medicine. Today's guest gave me a very humble bio, but you'll get to hear all about the awesome things she has accomplished and experienced along the way as we chat in this episode. Today you get to meet Dr. Julie Settlage. Julie is an equine professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim. While she has lots of letters behind her name, indicating that she is a bit of a nerd, she is actually just a normal human mom. She is passionate about her family, her profession and newly, her Peloton, I have to give an extra shout out to Julie for championing that wellness initiative in the equine division at Boehringer. I hope you enjoyed today's show, and make sure to check out the show notes for links to everything that we mentioned today. Hi, Julie, thanks so much for sitting down to chat with me today.

Julie Settlage:

Thanks so much for having me. I'm actually quite honored that you asked me to be here today.

Stacey Cordivano:

Well, I'm honored that you took the time out of your schedule between work and mom life and all the other things that you do to sit down. When I thought about having you on. I know a little bit about you. And I know how varied your career has been thus far. And I think what I want to talk to you about today is sort of how you've changed your mindset from maybe the traditional career type that you thought you would have had as event to all the different things that you've done. And you know, in the midst of that, hopefully we can get people a little caught up on your background as well.

Julie Settlage:

Sure, yeah. Now let's let's see where this goes.

Stacey Cordivano:

Yeah, I mean, the first place I knew you was as an equine surgeon at Virginia Tech. So let's start with vet school, I guess.

Julie Settlage:

Okay, well, and I'm gonna actually back up a little bit more than that, okay. I grew up a horse crazy kid whose parents didn't want me to be horse crazy. And so I knew I also wanted to be a veterinarian. And so my goals, even as a young child was to be an equine veterinarian. So getting into vet school was the fulfillment of a long dream of mine. And then while I was in that school, I couldn't decide that I'm the type of person I think a lot of that in areas are there as a type of person that didn't want to just have to turn something away, or give it away to a specialist. I wanted to be the person that was like the buck stops here, type of person. And it was during a really intense foaling season during my that schooling, I was like, I don't want to be an internist anymore. Because foals, foals are hard, like emotionally hard. They're babies, even though medicine is fun. I didn't want to deal with the foal season as an internist. And so that's where I decided to be a surgeon, I loved working with my hands, fixing things is really cool. And then on I went and then when we met, I think that was during my clinical instructor year, when I was back at Virginia Tech, because that's where I graduated from too. So I was able to fulfill that dream just by I think like a lot of veterinarians just buckling down and working hard and knowing that you can achieve what you put your mind to. But then I'm also meeting all these amazing specialists that also while they're doing their residency, have a family have a husband, and I don't have any of that when I was doing my thing, I could just put my head down and focus on the one thing that was my goal. I didn't have anything else that was pulling at my desire to be a anycoin surgeon, I can be significantly focused laser focused on that goal. I look now that that was actually luxury. Mmm hmm. Yeah. And I hate even calling distractions. It's other wonderful things that you can fill your life with. I filled my life with them later, not during the residency. So those people that are able to do it with as other things I think are really interesting to talk to too, because they were able to balance it all during that time, and I was able to just be there 100% of the time and not worry about it. So I didn't date anyone either.

Stacey Cordivano:

Literally classic equine focus. Yeah. So wait, let me go back a little bit. Did you do a private practice or an academic internship

Julie Settlage:

private practice internship.

Stacey Cordivano:

And then your residency was at the equine Medical Center.

Julie Settlage:

Yep. The other part of Virginia Tech up in Leesburg. Yep.

Stacey Cordivano:

Got it. Okay. And then how long were you practicing as an equine surgeon?

Julie Settlage:

So when do you want me to count from? Oh, yeah, so I did that school internship residency, just boom, boom, boom, I was in private practice, as a surgeon for a very brief amount of time, when Virginia Tech actually called me, I'm saying less than a year, Virginia Tech actually called me and asked me, if I would be willing to apply for an emergency hire that they really wanted an equine surgeon, very quickly, they were losing any coin surgeon and needed to fill a spot. And that was like a dream come true for me. And so I applied for that and got that position where you and I met that year, and moved down to Virginia Tech to be a clinical instructor. And that year is when I did relax enough to finally meet the man married. And at the end of that year, so 2006, or early in that year, he asked me to marry him, and had to make a decision because he'd already moved to New Jersey. And I had to make a decision then, do I want to stay with my dream job? educating veterinary students and doing equine surgery? I know it's my dream job. It's like the defining job for me? Or do I want to go to New Jersey, where he'd already bought a house, it was easily an hour and a half to two hours to any of the equine surgery clinics in the area. So I had to make a decision, then, do I follow the guy that I love? Do we stay a long term long distance relationship? Or do I keep this dream job of mine. And so that's kind of the first turning point and, and I really had to think you had to think long and hard because if I was going to move up there, marry him and do that route. I had to be okay with leaving that identity behind. But if I stayed, I'm like, I'm losing out on this amazing person that I've met and fallen in love with and I can see a life with. So that was when you're sitting down and really doing some introspecting. Like how much am I an equine surgeon? Or how much am I a veterinarian? Because that's a lot more portable than an equine surgery specialty is, and how much do I identify with that? And what else is important in my life? How do I want that to find me and I talked to a lot of people about it. And it chose obviously chose to get married, I'm married to them still, this year, we 15 years later, still married. But it was really hard because of how emotionally attached I was to being an equine or stilling him to being an equine surgeon. And it almost felt like I was breaking up with somebody my profession, to be able to be with somebody else, even though they both weren't people. And so that was a really hard thing for me to do. But I was like, I can still be an equine doctor. But when I got up there, I realized that all the equine doctors that were hiring at the time, wanted me to work six days a week, and only have Tuesdays off, because we were so close to Monmouth racetrack. And that was the day they didn't race. And I was newly married, that really wasn't something that called me even though my profession was calling me doing that full time was not the reason I moved to New Jersey and moved to New Jersey to be with my husband. And so that was the second within months. That was the second hard decision about my career. And my husband was excellent, and very gently that he did not pressure me to start working in a small animal field or anything like that. But JAVMA came every two weeks in the mail, snail mail, back then nothing digital at the time, he would circle an ad every two weeks and put it on the couch for me. And I would see it every two weeks. And it was a emergency clinic, small little emergency clinic that was hiring and they're saying work one day a week, make lots of money. He's like, you can do it for one day, right? You can do anything for one day a week, and you ultimately need to get a job. So I was like, why not? It's one day a week. Why not? Right? Why not? The worst thing that could have happened was I didn't like it. I never had doubts that I couldn't do it. I knew I was gonna have to learn a lot. I knew I was gonna have to relearn a lot. I knew that there was me disease states that I've learned, you know, a lecture in school and then purged on a test and then immediately purged from my brain. But I've learned that once so I figured I could learn it again. And I'm never been afraid to ask for help. And when I interviewed for that job, I said, Is there going to be somebody that can help me? Not necessarily here but there's someone I can always call and my boss is like my future boss, like, absolutely. You can always call somebody. And then he's surrounded me with excellent technicians. So I took that job and I did that. And so that was is not nearly as hard as leaving the equine surgery profession. But it was scary in a different way. Just scary in that, that not good enough way that I'm trained as this highly specialized equine surgeon. And now I have to go relearn Addison's disease DKA. Everything.

Stacey Cordivano:

I have to admit, like my palms are like sweaty, and my heart is like racing hearing you tell all these different scenarios like making that decision? Within a year of finishing your residency?

Julie Settlage:

Yeah,

Stacey Cordivano:

that is no joke.

Unknown:

Yeah. So equine surgeon. Now I'm a small animal lover. And I would say I'm like a sheep in Wolf's clothing. I'm pretending to be a small emergency veterinarian. But the I hate the adage taken to make it. And I don't like it. Because I don't like faking it. I think we need to be real, authentic human beings. But there was things I discovered about the small animal side that either I'd forgotten or never knew. You have six, seven minutes in front of an owner. And then you can always scoop up that cat or that dog and go in the back. You're no shame, I get hit books, I can read, I can assimilate information. I had amazing technicians around me that were phenomenal and helping me grow and become confident and what I knew, and I made them confident and telling me that I was wrong, so that they would save me if I needed to be saved. And actually, I ended up loving it. I loved that job. I've no regret. So if anything, it's made me a better well rounded veterinarian. Did I want to be a small l emergency veterinarian even when I was doing it? Nope. If I was in a plane with somebody stranger on the street, they asked me what I was equine surgeon. I identified with that for as long as I had that job. Yeah, I loved it. That was fun.

Stacey Cordivano:

Yeah, I mean, I have to imagine there are like, I know, you told me a story about how you learn to take better histories and things like that. Like I have to imagine there are other things like you kind of alluded to with being a more well rounded veterinarian, but there are other things that you learned in that growth process.

Unknown:

Absolutely. That's where I also learned what a good boss feels like, he was excellent. I'd never been exposed to like a really hardcore prosal type of salary before it was my first and he would sit down with me his goal as a business owner was only good medicine, but good business. And so quarterly, he sat down with me and he would look at my average transaction, we like, This isn't good enough. Like it's not good for you, you need to be able to make a better living, and it's not good for business. It needs to make more money. And it's probably a reflection of you not doing the best medicine. So then he would pull out 5,10, 15, depending on which time he had, records, and we would go through them. And he would help me identify areas that I could have done better medicine, which you know, better medicine costs, more like gouging. It wasn't unethical. It was always couched in better medicine. And I think equine medicine is hard that way that we have this feeling that we shouldn't be very expensive. And so we cheapen ourselves, we offer 2x Ray views instead of a whole study, we offer just an Saa instead of a CBC, fibrinogen and and Saa, we do what we can with less, without realizing how much more we can do if we actually get what that patient needs that and he's the one that taught me that full credit, full credit there. And it was a mindset change for me, because somewhere along the line, the culture that I'd learned was, do the best you can with less.

Jordan Gesimondo:

Yeah, the first thing that popped in my head when you said that you needed your ACT up was like, Oh, well, that's because you're an equin vet! That's awful, though.

Unknown:

Yeah, and so he, you know, I was like, but I didn't need a chemistry for that. He's like, Well, how do you know, you know, like, like, some emergency case, you get me doing anesthesia and surgery like, yeah, if you're fine. Without a chemistry, that course might be fine without a chemistry but a dog, you really should know what those renal values are, you really should know what those liver values are. You should know what you know, all these things that and so he really molded me into a much much better diagnostician much better communicator that communicate to the owners the value of good medicine and leave it up to them to decline. good medicine for Plan B. And he really coached me into that and I owe it all to him. I've taken it consciously taken it and I've continued to grow that through the years, that he's the one that made me aware of it and started that part of the business type of journey for me. He also It taught me about contract negotiation. So yeah, my husband, you know how we all are many of us are I never had any contract education in that school, maybe like an hour. Yeah, I don't even think I had that. And, you know, someone offers me a job like, oh, job, take it. And my husband's like, no, you're working too hard. And you're making him a ton of money, you need to ask for more. And so I was really nervous. And I didn't want to have this conversation. But I realized that my boss actually was enjoying the conversation too. And ultimately, it's wasn't contentious took us a long time, probably a month to six weeks working on the old contract to come up with a new contract. But it was given take it was conversation, it was this is important to me. That's not quite as important to me. And so in the end, I ended up with this contract that I thought was amazing. I'm pretty sure he thought he'd gotten the better of the deal twos, and it was actually eye opening again, I learned that contract negotiation isn't scary. It shouldn't chase me away from a job. If anything, it should bring us closer together. Because we've learned what's important. I've learned what's important to my boss. He's learned what's important to me, and we've negotiated around that. That was a huge eye opener for me, too. That's really good advice. Yeah. Great. So you went back to Virginia Tech after that? Yeah. So life changes. My husband worked for industry on the research side of things. He's not a veterinarian. He's actually studying protein group studying Alzheimers, but that big company was getting ready to spin off lots of little bits of that company. And he was going to be one of them, you know, within the next year, 18 months, and so he started looking for jobs. I really wanted to get back to horses wanted to get back to teaching. And luckily, as luck would have it, Virginia Tech was looking for someone like me and looking for someone like my husband and we both landed jobs back at Virginia Tech. And so again, no, no luck of the draw. Right? Not not being an equine surgeon for just over two years, did not close the equine surgery door to me. And again, I never questioned the people that hired me. I was like, I never asked that. Why question. You know, I've been gone for two plus years. Why me? I get maybe I didn't want to know or. But they did. They hired me and I was thrilled to come back. Again. He finds surgery is how I defined myself. I love it. I love the lameness aspect. I love putting horses back together. Again, colic surgery is the most fun surgery. Just wish it could happen during the day. But yeah, so So yeah, so I came back in 2009, I came back to Virginia Tech as a large animal surgeon. And then I know after that you changed positions again. So 2015. So between 2009 and 2015, lots of stuff changed in my life, in the names of two little boys entered my world. And again, everyone's different. I know that there are some amazing surgeons, equine surgeons out there that are women that have children, and to this day are still rocking it equine surgeons, and I probably would still be doing this too, if another layer hadn't applied itself to me in in those year intervening years between 2009 and 2015. I'm sure everyone has an experience in their past when their boss or a highly admired mentor, whoever it is kind of Vonn told you volunteer tells you to do something, and you don't really feel like you have room to say no, I was voluntold that it was my turn as a member of the large animal department. It's my turn to be on the university's Virginia Tech's institutional animal care and use committee, every department at the University that uses animals and teaching or research as a member on this committee, and almost everyone looks at it as a massive chore, not as an opportunity. So hence, I was voluntold. And I had that same attitude. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. But I didn't have a choice. I just so happened that there was a new lab animal veterinarian that was in charge called the attending veterinarian, that he was 100%, a mouse and rat guy and being at a land grant institution, there was a lot of not only from the veterinary side of things, but the animal science side of things. A lot of large animal and large animal in the lab, animal side of things is anything bigger than a bunny rabbit. That would include dogs and all that stuff. So there was a lot of large animals stuff going on. And then across the seas, including mice and rats, there's a load of surgery going on. And so through my work in that committee, I became very familiar with All the research going on on campus, the quality of surgery going on on campus across species. And then I was one of the ones that looked at almost all of the large animal protocols, because looking at ethics on large animals is really different than looking at ethics and the mice and rats. And so I learned a lot I really enjoyed the work on, I actually enjoyed the work on the committee. And the attending veterinarian asked me in 2015, if I would consider he was creating another position, another veterinary position that I want, he wanted someone like me to fill that position. And he really strongly encouraged me to apply for that position. And so that coinciding with the being a mom and juggling the mom thing, and not being home for dinner, and not being able to tell my husband that I could 100% Yes, pick up the kids today, that he was always had to be my backup for that. I wanted to be the soccer mom, carpool mom. And I wasn't able to figure that out. And so that just all collided, and I had this opportunity in front of me, I had these other things behind me that I was experiencing. And again, it was not, I can always give it a try. And so I applied for that job, I got that job I negotiated and negotiating with academia is hard. They're a little bit tougher than private practice, but ended up coming up with a contract that was good for me and stayed with the university, but left that school in 2015, to take up the mantle of being the veterinarian that was truly helping and being the teammate for all these researchers that were doing surgery, as well as the researchers that were using large animals in their research. So it was great. I loved that job to do

Stacey Cordivano:

you think that having jumped into something new previously and then been welcomed back with open arms? Did that make it easier that time?

Unknown:

Absolutely. I think having jumped once and loving it. So not only and having a positive experience, you're jumping in having a positive experience, and then being able to jump back, not having any negative ramifications of that. Certainly made that next jump that much easier. And this second jump was easier because I been not doing it doing it but had been involved in I had more of an idea of what I was getting myself into. And I knew that I was that small animal boss that I had was so amazing. He set the standard for what I wanted in a boss, and the attending veterinarian that hired me, I got to know him. And I knew that he was going to be the same kind of boss. And so they were carrying them or who who said it, you might know who said it, people don't leave jobs because the job they usually leave jobs because of bosses, knowing I was gonna have the opportunity to have a boss that was phenomenal, was truly a big carrot for me to take that leap as well.

Stacey Cordivano:

And then of course the kids I mean things are when you're considering your kids, it's just a totally different story.

Julie Settlage:

And the lab animal veterinarian lifestyle is definitely different large animal veterinarian lifestyle.

Stacey Cordivano:

Okay, and then another big jump, right?

Julie Settlage:

Yeah, yeah, so I probably based on happiness factor, I probably would have stayed as a lab animal veterinarian for Virginia Tech. But in 2019, I got a new boss. And that adage of you leave jobs because of bosses come true. By the middle of 2019, I absolutely knew that I didn't want to work for that boss anymore. And again, all this past experiences of jumping made me wanting to jump very easy. This time, I knew I wasn't going to be happy working for him. And so let's see what else is out there. The nice thing there too, though, was I wasn't about I wasn't going to get fired, I didn't have to leave that job. So I could take my time and really sit down and evaluate what I wanted in a job. What I didn't want a job was moving in our future was moving not in our future and you're within our family want, I was able to really take my time and see what opportunities there were. So that's a very different job hunt that go around then anytime previously. And you know, it took probably six months before I started interviewing because of you know, applications and discerning and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And then I left right back into equine world but into industry. So I started in spring of 2020. So during COVID even

Stacey Cordivano:

I want to just go back I do feel like a lot of veterinarians could be in that situation where they're not being forced to leave any advice on like that period of introspection or what was Maybe most beneficial to you. How did you make your list? How did you you know what I mean?

Julie Settlage:

Yeah, that'sgreat. So the first thing I did, and this is I think what's really cool about that any medicine is we all have a network, whatever that networks looks like. It could be classmates, it could be past colleagues. It could be Facebook groups. I mean, that's really cool there too. And I reached out to all the people that I that I knew that were doing different things, and asked, just asked to interview them as far as what their jobs were, like they liked their jobs didn't like about their jobs, other jobs they've had, do they know of any opportunities, that type of thing. The other big thing for me was family, you know, what did my family want? Did we want to move did we not want to move, and we came to the conclusion that we didn't want to move. So now all of a sudden, what opportunities are either in my region where I don't want to move, or in southwest Virginia, there's not many opportunities for large animal surgeons that quickly cross off the list, I did not want to go into just private practice, a general practice as an equine veterinarian. I knew I didn't want to do that. Because of the lifestyle, lifestyle. And the reasons I've left equine surgery to be a lab animal veterinarian is my family. And I had really fallen in love with being home. And when I was home, I was home. And I really liked that not having to carry a pager. And then your note being on call, and I was on call for lab animal, but the likelihood of someone actually looking at their lab animal at seven o'clock at night, was maybe once a year. And usually I knew that they're going to be looking at their animals. So I knew to be on guard for that. I didn't want to go back to that one night a week or two nights a week and every couple of weekends being on call again, I just did not want that. I like the predictability. I learned that about myself. I like the predictability of my schedule. And so then we had to weigh as a family way. Well, if I'm not going to, if I'm not going to get a local job, what's available, either through the digital realm, you know, is that something we can do? Or I can do? Or what about the industry jobs are out there that require a bit of travel. And in my network, there are a lot of veterinarians, I know a lot of friends I have that do what I do now. And I call them all one of them lives locally as well. And I for a competing company. Hi, Mark. We worked together when I came back to Virginia Tech, and I called them and I said what one? What's your job? Like? What's it like to travel and he doesn't have kids. And so you can offer that perspective? To me it is like flying from a regional airport up and down the East Coast. What's that, like? And he, he was really good about sitting down and talking to me. And he actually told me that he thought I'd be excellent heating job competing companies, right. He told me he thought I'd be really good at this job and thought I'd really love this job. He He gave me the good, the bad and the ugly, which was excellent. And then I called a friend, that same job. But she's on the smaller side, again, a different company. She has two kids that are almost exactly my kids age as like, tell me the impacts on your family. What's up, like, how's your husband deal with it? What's that like? And you really just kind of wanted to know what I was getting myself into, and trying to really educate myself on what the lifestyle is like, and they love it, what they love, love about it, what they hate about it. And then tried to imagine myself in that world, it all seemed to fit. I knew that the con of traveling was going to be there. It's a con, it's traveling. But the fun part about it is what makes this job so fun is to educate people that like this week, I did help coach a clinic using some of their instruments better, and learning how to use them more effectively. Last week, I met with a bunch of young practitioners that wanted to get better at joint injections. Sometimes I get to meet with clinics about becoming better teammates, and developing leadership skills. And that is so rewarding and so fun. Yes, eventually, when COVID lets me, I'll be in front of audiences, giving talks which this is like being back in academia and giving talks. But yeah, I have to be away from home to do that. And so far, I'm checking in with my my kids checking in with my husband trying to be intentional on talking to everyone, frequently while I'm gone. so far. I feel fed and not drained, which is where we all want to

Stacey Cordivano:

Yeah, that's the goal. Yep. Okay, first of be. The goal. all, like that's an amazing summary of so many different positions. And I really appreciate your insight on kind of how you made all of those transitions. I know Another thing that feeds you is the veterinary Leadership Institute. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Julie Settlage:

Yes, I actually want to give them credit for my skill set. And what I've talked about the past 15-20 minutes, because the skills they give, and I'll tell you what it is in a minute, the skills they give and teach. veterinarians are how to be your authentic self, how to be your own leader, and how to be brave and that kind of thing. And I wonder if I hadn't gotten involved with them just about 10 years ago. So halfway through my career, I 11 years ago. So halfway through my career, I wonder if some of these transitions that I've done, the conversations I've had the depths I've been through, if they would not have been as good if it hadn't been for the veterinary Leadership Institute. So they put on several programs with the two main programs is the veterinary leadership experience, which is targeted mainly for setting our students, the practitioners can go is in the typically in the spring when there's no COVID. But the one that I'm really, really excited about is Trek, which is the inaugural event is going to be happening in September, and there's still openings for people that might be interested in it. They teach a leadership model that really tries to help build personal leadership, but we can't lead others if we can't lead ourselves. And as veterinarians, even if we're not owners, to practice owners, we still lead a team, we have receptionists that we talk to, we have technicians that we talk to, you might have somebody that is mucking stalls for you that you need to talk to. And our job as the veterinarian is to inspire them to do great work, whatever that looks like. And we are looked at even if we're not the nominal leader, we're still looked at as the leader of that team. And the vetinary Leadership Institute really helps you learn how to lead yourself, they develop self awareness, they develop resiliency, they help with conflict resolution, or management. And they're all skill sets. So in these events, we practice on ourselves and with small groups, and it's hands on immersive, excellent stuff. And so I went as an attendee as a faculty member in 2010. And then I became a facilitator in 2011. And I've been doing that that was, and just really credit them with the development in me to be able to be better in this space I occupy.

Unknown:

That's awesome. I can't wait to I'm definitely going to do that. You've got to do it. You got to do it. And so it's gonna be in September. You can look them up on vetinary leadership Institute's site. it's easy to find them online.

Stacey Cordivano:

Yeah, I'll put a link in for sure.

Julie Settlage:

Great. I love being involved with them. It feeds again, it's another thing that feeds me, I love being able to help deliver those skills to other people and coach them through it. Just It's awesome. Highly, highly, highly recommend.

Jordan Gesimondo:

Well, again, I so much appreciate your time and sharing kind of all the insight you have. I do ask all of my guests what is one small thing that has brought you joy this past week, although I think you've already listed a bunch but let's have another one.

Julie Settlage:

So today, this morning, I got to be the ultimate mom. And I walked on a formal tour of middle school with my oldest son he starts Middle School this fall, and just watching him be a little bit nervous, a little bit all struck by this big school. With him being excited. I think just seeing his emotions really brought me joy for him to be part of my life. Like I love being his mom. And that was awesome.

Stacey Cordivano:

That's great. I love that. is there somewhere people can reach out to you if they want to connect further.

Julie Settlage:

Absolutely, they can find me on Facebook if you want to do it that way. It's just Julie Settlage, but they can also email me anytime they want. And my emails public so I'll go ahead and give it if that's okay.

Stacey Cordivano:

Yeah. And I'll link to it too.

Julie Settlage:

awesome it's Julie.settlage@Boehringer-Ingelheim.com. And I'm going to let the link speak for itself because spelling goingto be difficult.

Stacey Cordivano:

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This was really fun. I'm glad we got to chat.

Julie Settlage:

Thank you Stacey. This has been fantastic.

Stacey Cordivano:

Thanks so much for tuning in today. I hope you're enjoying the August series highlighting moms in veterinary medicine who are kicking butt and making waves along the way. If you enjoyed this episode, please share with a friend hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast player. And if you have time, please leave me a review on Apple podcasts. Also, if you want to make sure that you don't miss any news from me, sign up for the monthly recap newsletter at thewholeveterinarian.com/subscribe. Thanks again for spending your precious time with me and I will talk to you again soon.